Navy wrestlers no match for ninth-ranked Lehigh

Friday night's dual meet against ninth-ranked Lehigh was a litmus test for the Navy wrestling team. The Midshipmen learned they still have a long way to go in order to compete against one of the top programs in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association.

The Mountain Hawks just had too much depth throughout the lineup, replacing a pair of ranked wrestlers with no noticeable drop off and dropping just two of 10 bouts.

"I think right now Lehigh's expectation is to get back to where they were in the early 2000s in terms of being a program that can be in hardware contention (at the NCAA Tournament)," Navy head coach Joel Sharratt said. "Going into tonight, we were wondering where we were against a Top 10 team. Our guys now know that we are able to compete with that type of team."

Freshman Jared Prince pulled off a huge upset at 141 pounds, but that was about the only highlight for Navy (6-1, 1-1), which managed just two other decisions. Sharratt was disappointed some of the Midshipmen did not wrestle the way the staff is teaching.

"For Navy to produce the best result possible, we need to make guys wrestle for seven minutes. That means wrestling line-to-line, whistle-to-whistle – not stopping with 10 seconds left in the period, not allowing a guy to just lay and cover our hips for several minutes," the third-year coach said. "There were a couple matches when we gave up four minutes of ride time. That's not giving us a chance to wrestle for seven minutes. We have to be able to get off our stomach and onto our feet."

Parker suffered an injury at the Southern Scuffle and was unavailable while Preisch was held out due to coach's decision. Lehigh's Pat Santoro did not sound like a head coach whose squad had just won by a comfortable margin.

"I think you are starting to see the Joel Sharratt influence on this team. Navy wrestled really hard and out-fought us tonight. I think they won the battle of wills tonight. I hope it's a wake up for our team," said Santoro, formerly head coach at Maryland.

Sharratt said Navy could not afford to give up big points at the weight classes where Lehigh was heavily favored. However, that happened right off the bat as Cruz needed just one period to earn a tech fall over Brant Leadbeter at 125. Cruz recorded three near-falls and just missed posting a pin as time expired.

"Darian was excited to wrestle tonight and you saw that. He set a great tone," Santoro said. "Unfortunately, I think a lot of our guys wrestled very uninspired. They were wrestling to win and not to score points."

Joe Lobeck notched a decision at 133 to give Lehigh an 8-0 lead, but Prince prevented the visitors from building on that early advantage.

Prince showed why he was the top-rated recruit at his weight class coming out of Palm Harbor University in Florida by upsetting ninth-ranked Randy Cruz, 7-5. Prince used a takedown early in the third period to grab a 6-5 lead then did an outstanding job of riding Cruz for more than a minute.

A restart with 10 seconds remaining gave Cruz an opportunity, but the returning All-American could not muster a reversal. Prince picked up a point for riding time to secure the biggest victory of his young career.

"Jared Prince went out there and did what we knew he was capable of doing. He needs to change his expectations," Sharratt said. "Tonight, we got back on the national stage by beating a highly-ranked guy and that's a good thing."

Prince, who improved his record to 15-6, announced himself as a contender for the EIWA championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

"It was a big win for me personally because I had lost to (Cruz) last year. This year, he's an All-American and ranked high so it was kind of a revenge match," said Prince, who competed against collegiate wrestlers while at the Naval Academy Prep School. " I've had some troubles on top this season, but I've been getting better. That was big because getting that riding time point was huge. I wore him out a bit and turned the match in my favor."

Navy also needed an upset at 149 pounds, but 10th-ranked Laike Gardner was just too much for junior Corey Wilding. Gardner got an escape and near fall in the second period to take control en route to a 6-1 decision.

"Corey Wilding lost a heartbreaker. That's a 1-1 match that looks like it's going to overtime. He just made a mistake and got put on his back," Sharratt said.

Preisch was replaced at 174 by Chase Gallik, a freshman who is normally a backup at 165. One would have thought that would provide a huge advantage for Navy, which sent out No. 18 Jadaen Bernstein.

Bernstein, who started off the season ranked 10th by InterMat, traded takedowns for escapes in building a 10-5 lead. However, he made a serious mistake late in the third period and allowed a six-point move that briefly tied the match. Navy's senior captain avoided a huge upset by getting one more takedown and earning the riding time point for a 15-12 decision to improve his record to 18-6.

"Bernstein worked through some things tonight as far as physical fatigue," Sharratt said. "You can't fault him for being aggressive there. Really, the only thing that put that guy in the match was our aggressive style. Jadaen showed heart, fought off his back and won the battle of will."

"Positive things? We did win the fight in a lot of positions. When we allowed ourselves to wrestle, we won the fight quite a bit," Sharratt said. "Individually, we have to continue to improve. I think Lehigh has a little bit better depth than we do right now. Make no mistake, we're a little behind in the race. We have to pick up our pace and try to catch them."